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All Things Internal Audit: Supply Chain Risk: From Operational Disruptions to Strategic Business Risk

In this episode, Adam Ross is joined by Filipe Ribeiro and Julien Perreault to discuss how supply chain risk has evolved into an interconnected, enterprisewide challenge. They discuss where organizations underestimate exposure, how risks quietly accumulate across the value chain, and why internal audit is uniquely positioned to identify blind spots before disruptions escalate. The conversation spans real-world examples from agriculture and highly regulated industries, third-party risk, continuous monitoring, and the growing impact of automation and AI on supply chains.

Host:

Adam Ross, CIA, CISA

Partner, Grant Thornton Advisors LLC

Guests:

Filipe Ribeiro, CIA, CRMA, CFE

Group Internal Audit Manager, Aldar

Julien Perreault, CPIM, MBA

Experienced Manager, Sourcing and Supply Chain Advisory, Grant Thornton Advisors LLC

Key points

  • Introduction to Modern Supply Chain Risk [00:00:02–00:01:22]
  • From Operational Inconvenience to Strategic Risk [00:01:22–00:02:24]
  • Why Supply Chain Risk Is Now Systemic and Enterprisewide [00:02:32–00:03:11]
  • Where Organizations Commonly Underestimate Exposure [00:03:22–00:04:33]
  • When “Green Dashboards” Mask Emerging Risk [00:03:33–00:05:08]
  • How Informal Workarounds Quietly Accumulate Enterprise Risk [00:05:08–00:05:47]
  • Agricultural Case Study: How Small Upstream Delays Become Major Downstream Failures [00:05:53–00:07:52]
  • Using Continuous Monitoring to Detect Hidden Timing and Dependency Risks [00:07:57–00:12:26]
  • Supply Chain Risk in Remote, Capital-Intensive, and Highly Regulated Environments [00:12:54–00:15:25]
  • Balancing Regulatory Compliance and Operational Efficiency [00:15:42–00:18:55]
  • Procure-to-Pay Risk and the Rise of Operational “Noise” [00:19:14–00:21:01]
  • When Exceptions Become the Normal Operating Model [00:21:01–00:23:15]
  • Third-Party Risk as a Business Resilience Issue [00:25:15–00:27:12]
  • Governance, Speed of Business, and Supplier Ecosystems [00:27:12–00:30:25]
  • Managing Supplier Concentration Risk Without Sacrificing Resilience [00:31:20–00:35:04]
  • Geographic and Cultural Complexity as an Underestimated Risk Driver [00:35:36–00:37:27]
  • How Internal Audit Can Add Value Without Compromising Independence [00:38:35–00:41:29]
  • Emerging Risks: Automation, AI, Data Quality, and Governance Lag [00:41:47–00:46:18]
  • Final Thoughts on the Future of Supply Chain Risk [00:46:29–00:47:05]

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